Defending the Pope

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So I’m not sure if this is the correct forum to ask this, but defending the Pope from attacks on what he said seems kind of like apologetics to me.

A friend (ex-Catholic, currently non-denominational Christian, “spiritual not religious”, believer in anything that has ever been said against the Catholic Church, conspiracy theorist) is claiming that the Pope is trying to create one world religion with Satan as the head and is calling himself the anti-Christ who will usher in the end of the world.

She gave me this link to a ridiculous set of You Tube videos.

youtube.com/results?search_query=one+world+religion

How can I respond to this? Accept as a given that she believes that the Catholic Church is at best misguided, at worst evil, and that logic is not the way to understand God or one another, but feelings tell us all we need to know, once we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. How do I explain these videos to such a person?
 
Frankly, I don’t think you can get her head out of this nonsense–not until she’s disposed to listen.

If she likes C. S. Lewis’ writings, many Evangelicals do, you could try directing her to something like this website: cslewisinstitute.org/Feelings_or_Faith_for_Foundations. That is if she isn’t too far gone.

G. K. Chesterton famously wrote two quotable ways of saying the same thing:

“A man who won’t believe in God will believe in anything.”

“When a man stops believing in God he doesn’t then believe in nothing, he believes anything.”

The same can be said for the person who stops believing in religion to embrace “spirituality.” Such a ambivalent notion opens the door to believe any kind of nonsense by any number of nonsensical persons.

You friend is wandering in a wilderness. But she can’t come out of it until she wants to be rescued. So pray hard for her and be there to answer her questions, especially when she begins to see how silly the ideas she’s embracing are.
 
Secant said:
So I’m not sure if this is the correct forum to ask this, but defending the Pope from attacks on what he said seems kind of like apologetics to me.

A friend (ex-Catholic, currently non-denominational Christian, “spiritual not religious”, believer in anything that has ever been said against the Catholic Church, conspiracy theorist) is claiming that the Pope is trying to create one world religion with Satan as the head and is calling himself the anti-Christ who will usher in the end of the world.

She gave me this link to a ridiculous set of You Tube videos.

youtube.com/results?search_query=one+world+religion

How can I respond to this? Accept as a given that she believes that the Catholic Church is at best misguided, at worst evil, and that logic is not the way to understand God or one another, but feelings tell us all we need to know, once we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. How do I explain these videos to such a person?
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Try to correct her one or twice, if she will not listen there isnt much you can do except pray.
 
Secant said:
So I’m not sure if this is the correct forum to ask this, but defending the Pope from attacks on what he said seems kind of like apologetics to me.

A friend (ex-Catholic, currently non-denominational Christian, “spiritual not religious”, believer in anything that has ever been said against the Catholic Church, conspiracy theorist) is claiming that the Pope is trying to create one world religion with Satan as the head and is calling himself the anti-Christ who will usher in the end of the world.

She gave me this link to a ridiculous set of You Tube videos.

youtube.com/results?search_query=one+world+religion

How can I respond to this? Accept as a given that she believes that the Catholic Church is at best misguided, at worst evil, and that logic is not the way to understand God or one another, but feelings tell us all we need to know, once we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. How do I explain these videos to such a person?
Click to expand...
Sounds exactly like a conversation I had recently with someone while I was on vacation. I didn’t even know him and he cornered us in the pool.

Did she mention something about a pentagram on the pope’s hat?
 
I had a Christian friend who also sent me some vile videos to watch when I told her I was returning to my cradle faith. Her intention was to detour me. I have been detoured all my life so I consider her two cents a road to nowhere. Since she could not convince me of her lies, she stopped talking to me. Maybe you will be ‘unfriended’, too?
 
Alex Jones is a well known anti-Catholic conspiracy theorist and he’ll say anything…even when it’s not true.

The answer to this rubbish is always facts and I have found that the best way is to provide the text of what Pope Francis actually says and a majority of that can be found at The Weekly Francisso all you need is to locate the particular text and hand it to them.

Now…if they won’t accept it and do their own homework then you are essentially wasting your time and my own response is always, “Let me know when you are willing to actually honestly look at the facts.”

Then I also suggest that you carefully read Preface Bishop Sheen
 
Secant said:
So I’m not sure if this is the correct forum to ask this, but defending the Pope from attacks on what he said seems kind of like apologetics to me.

A friend (ex-Catholic, currently non-denominational Christian, “spiritual not religious”, believer in anything that has ever been said against the Catholic Church, conspiracy theorist) is claiming that the Pope is trying to create one world religion with Satan as the head and is calling himself the anti-Christ who will usher in the end of the world.

She gave me this link to a ridiculous set of You Tube videos.

youtube.com/results?search_query=one+world+religion

How can I respond to this? Accept as a given that she believes that the Catholic Church is at best misguided, at worst evil, and that logic is not the way to understand God or one another, but feelings tell us all we need to know, once we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. How do I explain these videos to such a person?
Click to expand...
I am not certain whether “spiritual but not religious” refers to nondenominational concepts or to pantheism that is popular today.

You likely won’t change any minds, however…

You can point to the writings of Ignatius of Antioch, as well as Acts 11 in reference to Antioch.

You can also point to writings of Irenaeus of Lyon.

You also need the years they were alive, noting they were bishops.

These writings and their context will show the early church was Catholic rather than what your friend was led to believe.

Irenaeus will also show the role of the bishop of Rome and apostolic succession.

Remember to use charity. 👍 I hope this helps
 
Secant said:
So I’m not sure if this is the correct forum to ask this, but defending the Pope from attacks on what he said seems kind of like apologetics to me.

A friend (ex-Catholic, currently non-denominational Christian, “spiritual not religious”, believer in anything that has ever been said against the Catholic Church, conspiracy theorist) is claiming that the Pope is trying to create one world religion with Satan as the head and is calling himself the anti-Christ who will usher in the end of the world.

She gave me this link to a ridiculous set of You Tube videos.

youtube.com/results?search_query=one+world+religion

How can I respond to this? Accept as a given that she believes that the Catholic Church is at best misguided, at worst evil, and that logic is not the way to understand God or one another, but feelings tell us all we need to know, once we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. How do I explain these videos to such a person?
Click to expand...
Frankly, I would not know how to handle such person. I would be baited, and in response I would rant my reply, not to mention the emotion involved and the draining that accompanying it.

Guess we will always have people who challenge us - in our faith and composure.

You can give it a try with factual answer of what the Pope meant, and if she does not have any of it, then you can console yourself that she is one of those trolls that bug you in your life. 😉 And you know what to do with it.

That should be the last resort, however. There are better advice here for you to think of.🙂
 
If your friend is an ex Catholic then you are wasting your time…she has already been brainwashed and pressured into rejecting the Catholic faith…they make the best anti-Catholics…they believe that they have been saved because they have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior and are born again…the only thing I would do would be to show her John 6 and ask her how to explain as a Catholic why she received the real presence …the body and blood of the living Jesus Christ in the Eucharist…but now has rejected him…of course I don’t mean to disparage all Protestant denominations…it’s mainly the more Evangelical/Fundamentalist ones that are very anti Catholic…which it appears your friend is…if you are still friends after asking her to explain why she rejects John 6…tell her no thanks for the videos or whatever else…and that you have the real presence of Christ within you from the Holy Eucharist…after that just pray for her…in time she may realize what she has rejected…and is missing in her life.
 
I’ve met the good deacon, find his conversion testimony on YouTube. Powerful. It’s about 50 minutes long. Not only did he convert, but most of his church with him.
 
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